Bitcoin has vaulted to an all-time high – peaking at an intraday high of $88,821.47. This breakout comes after weeks of tight, sideways price action – a period that has had investors excited and anticipating this move. The surge coincided with pro-cryptocurrency Paul Atkins being sworn in as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The top crypto asset had actually breached the $87k level one day earlier. At 8:30 p.m. ET, Bitcoin's price was $87,335.05, reflecting a 1.18% gain in the last 24 hours.
Capital was shifting from altcoins back to Bitcoin, as suggested by Bitcoin’s dominance percentage of 63.7% — a recent high. This excitement helped drive trading volumes, which soared by 98% to $38.64 billion. The cumulative liquidations in the past 24 hours came up to $270 million. The total global cryptocurrency market cap is $2.74 trillion as of writing.
As Rekt Capital pointed out, the way Bitcoin is moving up is a sign that market dynamics have changed.
"And when a technical downtrend is broken… technical uptrends emerge" - Rekt Capital
There was a lot of skepticism in the trading circles regarding Bitcoin’s long-term upward movement. According to their data, almost 59% of traders on Binance with open positions on Bitcoin are short. Historically, we’ve seen a healthy skepticism around this rally’s sustainability.
External factors were significant contributors to market movement as well. Just last week, President Donald Trump’s scathing condemnation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sent ripples through broader markets and piled even more pressure on these already-volatile markets.
Market watchers are glued to certain price thresholds, looking for signs of which direction the market will go.
"The trader’s realized price acts as support when market conditions are bullish (green area, bull score >= 60), and as resistance when market conditions are bearish (red area, bull score <= 40)" - Julio Moreno
